Method and apparatus for filling containers with multiple separate streams of viscous material

ABSTRACT

Process and apparatus for filling a transparent container with multiple viscous materials, such as edible substances, supplied as separate independent streams and kept independently and completely separate from each other until they enter the container and in which the materials will assume a predetermined pattern. The apparatus includes a nozzle which can be moved vertically or axially relative to the container and an associated valve which can quickly start and cut off the flow of all the separate streams simultaneously.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Leonard A. Ericlaon [56] ReferencesCited Columbus, Ohio UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 PP 7921659 3,267,971 8/l966Mueller 141 9 1221 Med 1969 1,951,694 3/1934 Goulstone 141 9 45 PatentedFeb. 2, 1971 3,295,466 l/l967 Bell et al 141/9 [73] Asslgnee Big Drum,Inc.

Columbus, Ohio Primary Examiner-Laveme D. Geiger a corporation ofASXLSIGNI Examiner-Robert Attorney-Mahoney, Miller and Stebens [54]METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FILLING ABSTRACT: Process and apparatus forfilling a transparent CONTAINERS WITH MULTIPLE SEPARATE container withmultiple viscous materials, such as edible sub- STRFEAMS 0F Q MATERIALstances, supplied as separate independent streams and kept inll Drawingdependently and completely separate from each other until [52]U.S.Cl..-. 141/9, they enter the container and in which the materialswill as- 107/8 sume a predetermined pattern. The apparatus includes anoz- [Sl] Int. Cl B65b 1/06 716 which can be moved vertically or axiallyrelative to the [50] Field of Search 107/! .4, container and anassociated valve which can quickly start and 8.05, 8; l4l/9; l41/l00,105, 107

cut off the flow of all the separate streams simultaneously.

PATENIEUF EB 2191a 3559700 sum 1 us 4 INVENTOR. LEONARD A. ERICK'SON BYMAHONEY PATENTED FEB 2 us?! SHEET 2 0F 4 5 7 4 4 I O 6 M B 4.5 mm qu WWN N m m A L 4 IlII run W M a 2A 2N O E E M I LYHVI 5 HA8 2 M 36INVENTOR.

LEONARD; A. ERICKSON I MAHONEY, MILLER a R MBO y Inui ATTORNEYSPATENTEUFEB2|97| 3559700 snmuoFa INVENTOR. LEONARD A. ERICKSON BYMAHONEY, MILLER RAMBO METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FILLING CONTAINERSWI'I'II MULTIPLE SEPARATE STREAMS F VISCOUS MATERIAL streamssimultaneously. The apparatus of the present invention overcomes thesedisadvantages of the prior art in a simple but very effective manner andat relatively low cost. The result of the use of the apparatus is afilled transparent container having the streams of material arranged ina predetermined attractive pattern.

In the accompanying drawings, there is illustrated a preferred form ofapparatus in which the present invention is embodied and in thesedrawings:

FIG. I is a side elevational view of a head assembly including the feednozzle and valve.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the assembly.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical axial sectional view of the nozzle andvalve unit of the assembly, showing the valve closed.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the lower end of thenozzle but with the valve opened.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged transverse or horizontal sectional view takenalong line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken along line 6-6 ofFIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing the nonle inposition near the bottom of the container with the valve opened at thestart of the filling process.

FIG. 8 is a similar view but showing the nozzle being raised relative tothe container as the filling operation continues.

FIG. 9 is a similar view but showing the nozzle raised to a position atthe top of the container with the valve closed at the completion of thefilling operation.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of a transparent cylindrical containerfilled with vertical wedge-shaped columns of the separate materials.

FIG. I1 is a similar view but showing the materials in the container inthe form of helical streams produced by relative rotation of the nozzleand container.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, there is il lustrated ahead assembly which is of a type that can be mounted on various machinesin association with a conveyor which will position the containers C(FIGS. 10 and l I) successively therebeneath, each being axially alignedwith the nozzle and valve unit indicated generally at 15. The headassembly may be disposed in cooperation with and over the conveyor of aturret-type or straight line type conveyor where the conveyor movesintermittently to position successive containers below the head whichmay or may not have means for rotating the conveyor about its axis whilepositioned in cooperation with the head. For example, the head assemblymay be used with a machine of the type disclosed in US. Pat. No.2,934,872 by Wise and be carried by the vertically reciprocable rod I12thereof. The containers C are preferably transparent, for example beingof transparent plastic, so that pattern of material created by thefilling operation will be visible. The head may include a clampingbracket, adjacent its lower end and indicated generally at 16, formounting the head on the vertically reciprocable supporting rod 112 ofthe machine which may be reciprocated by cam means, as shown in thatpatent, or by a fluid-actuated unit of a suitable type. The

"upper end of the head may be provided with a cylinder and piston unit,indicated generally at 17, for actuating the valve of the nozzle andvalve unit 15. It will be apparent later that the valve is controlledindependently of but in timed relationship to the reciprocation of theentire head by the rod 112.

Attached to the bracket 16 is a lower support plate 18 (FIGS. 1, 2 and3) which has a central opening downwardly through which is slipped thevalve body 20 which is mainly of annular tubular form but is providedwith an inwardly tapered nozzle portion 21 on its lower end having acentrally disposed downwardly opening discharge outlet 22. The valvebody is provided at about midway of its height with an annular outwardlyprojecting circumferential flange 200 which normally rests on the uppersurface of the plate I8. The upper open end of the nozzle is closed by aremovable top plate 23 having a disc gasket 24 positioned in recess inits lower surface.

The upper portion of the valve body 20 above the plate I8 is enclosedwithin a cylindrical material receiving and supplying housing 25 whichis shown divided into two compartments, a lower compartment 26 and anupper compartment 27 separated by a horizontal partition 29. However,the housing may be divided into a more compartments if more than twosubstances are to be supplied. The lower compartment has an inletfitting 30 leading radially thereinto and the upper compartment has aninlet fitting 31 leading radially thereinto, and it is preferred thatthese fittings be angularly as well as vertically spaced. These fittingsmay be receive the substances to be used in filling the containers fromsuitable sources and, as previously indicated, these substances may beedible viscous products of different characteristics, for example, twodifferent flavors or colors of ice cream, peanut butter and jelly, etc.The valve body is disposed within an inwardly projecting flange 32 atthe bottom of the housing 25, the partition 29 which is a similar flangeand the inwardly projecting flange 33 at the top of the housing. Asealing ring 34 is provided at the flange 32 and a sealing ring 35 isprovided at the flange 33. The housing 25 is clamped between the lowerplate 18 and the upper plate or cover 23 by meansof the vertical bolts36, having wing nuts 37 at their upper ends, it being understood thatthe nuts and bolts are readily removable to permit separation of partsfor cleaning. It will also be apparent that the housing 25 is of lessercross-sectional area than the plates I8 and 23 so that the bolts 36 willbe outside the housing 25. This arrangement also clamps the valve body20 removably in position by the plate 23 engaging the upper end thereofto hold the flange 20a thereof down against the plate 18. l

The valve body 20 is provided with a lower set of a plurality ofangularly spaced vertical slots 40 which establish communication betweenthe lower compartment 26 and the interior of the valve body. It is alsoprovided with a similar set of angularly spaced slots 41 which establishcommunication between the upper compartment 27 and the interior of thevalve body. The two sets of slots preferably consist of identicalnumbers of slots. It will be noted that the slots of the respective setsare spaced angularly to be disposed in alternating relationship aboutthe valve body rather than in vertical alignment.

Within the valve body 20 and disposed concentrically therewith is avalve core 45 of tubular form and open at both its upper and lower ends.The upper end is sealed by contact with the basket 24 and the lower edgeis tapered at 46 to rest on the inwardly tapering inner surface of thenozzle portion 2I. This valve core 45 fits snugly within the body 20 butis removable therefrom when the plates 23 and I8 are separated. Theexterior of the valve core is provided with a plurality of verticallyextending uniformly angularly spaced outwardly opening grooves orchannels 47 which extend substantially the complete length thereof.However, it will be noted that the grooves or channels 47 are closed attheir upper ends by an outwardly flared upper section 480 cooperatingwith the valve body 20. The core 45 is provided with a central tubularchamber 48 extending completely therethrough, the lower end of which isadapted to serve as a valve chamber in which a pistonlike valve member50 is disposed for vertical reciprocation. It will be noted that thetubular core 45 has veru'cal outlet notches 51 at its lower end, whichextend upwardly from the lower extremity of the core, and which areequal in number and spacing to the channels 47 so as to provide inwardlyleading outlets therefor, at their extreme lower ends, which lead to thenozzle discharge opening 22. Each of the sets of slots 40 and 41,respectively, communicating with the chambers 26 and 27, is one-half thenumber of channels 47. The slots 40 and 41 alternate angularly andcommunicate,

respectively. with alternate channels 47 Thus, the material from thelower chamber 26 is supplied to one-half the channels and the materialfrom the upper chamber 27 is supplied to the other half or alternatechannels. The result is that half the streams or columns which issuefrom the notches 51 will be of one substance and the other half will beof another substance and the columns or streams will alternate. Thevalve member 50 will serve to cut off all these streams simultaneouslyjust at the outlet 22 and the streams will, therefore, be keptcompletely separate and independent until just as they pass through theoutlet 22 when they can flow into contiguous relationship as they enterthe container C It will be noted that the exterior of the valve member50 carries a sealing O-ring which contacts with the inner surface of thecore 45 but does permit sliding movement vertically of the valve member.

The valve member 50 is provided with tapered valve surface 52 offrustoconical form which will seat on the tapered inner surface of thenozzle portion 21 of the valve body 20, extending partly through theoutlet 22, as indicated in FIG. 3. The valve member 50 is carried on thelower end of a valve stem 53 which passes upwardly through the core 45and is slidably mounted in a sealing gland 54 on the cap plate 23. Theupper end of the stem 53 is keyed to a quick-connect coupling 60 whichis adapted to be removably connected to the lower end of the piston rod56 of the cylinder and piston unit 17. This unit 17 is carried by asupport plate 57 which is removably secured to the upper ends of posts58, upstanding from the support plate 23, by means of the easilyremovable and replaceable clamp bolts 59. Thus, the entire head can beassembled and disassembled readily, it being apparent that indisasembling, the unit 17 is first removed and then the parts of thevalve and nozzle unit are disassembled in the manner previouslyindicated. In assembling, a reverse procedure is followed.

The operation of filling a container by use of this head assembly willbe apparent from FIGS. 7-11, inclusive. The container will be supportedin axial alignment with the vertically movable nozzle and valve unit 15being carried in a pocket 55 of the conveyor of the patented machinepreviously referred to or similar conveyors. The unit 15 is first moveddownwardly by downward movement of the vertical supporting rod 112 untilthe noule portion 21 is close to the bottom of the container C as shownin FIG. 7. At this time, the valve 50 is in its lower position with thevalve portion 52 seated in the nonle discharge orifice 22. This willclose all the discharge notches 51 so that no material will issue fromthe nozzle. At this time, the two materials will be completely separateand independent in the alternating channels 47 of the valve core 45. Therod 112 is now raised to move the nozzle portion 21 upwardly as shown inFIG. 8 and simultaneously the valve member 50 is raised to unseat it andallow the separate streams to pass through the outlet notches 51, asindicated in FIG. 8. The viscous streams of the two materials orsubstances will now flow downwardly into the container and, as thenozzle portion 21 moves upwardly, the container will be gradually filledwith separate columns of the two materials. These columns will bepie-shaped or wedge-shaped in transverse section as indicated in FIG. 10due to the fact that the container is circular. The separate streams orcolumns of the viscous material will flow together into contiguousrelationship but will not mix with each other due to the viscous natureof the materials which m'll be kept at a predetermined temperature sothat they will have a predetermined viscosity to preclude intermingling.The raisin of the nozzle portion 21 will be continued until apredetermined point above the container is reached, as shown in FIG. 9,and just prior to this time, the valve member 50 will be moveddownwardly into seating engagement with the nozzle portion 21. This willquickly cut off the flow of materials at the nozzle orifice 22 and willnot permit interrningling of the separate streams but they willthereafter be maintained completely separate until the valve is againopened. Thus, the streams of material are kept completely separate andindependent until they flow into the container, at which time they willengage each other. .If the container in the pocket 55 is rotated by anwell-known prior art means as the separate streams of material are feddownwardly thereinto, the result indicated in FIG. 11 will occur. Inthis case, the two separate streams will also follow helical paths sothat the attractive pattern indicated in FIG. 11 will result.

It will be apparent that the above described apparatus provides for thereceiving of the two or more separate substances, the feeding of thesesubstances in separate streams to a point of discharge and the controlof the discharge by valve means which allows the streams to flowseparately. into the container and which, when the feeding operation iscompleted, will quickly cut off the flow of the separate streams at thesame point in their advancement towards discharge. The structure bymeans of which these operations are accomplished is relatively simpleand inexpensive and is of such a nature that it can be readily assembledand disassembled for cleaning and sterilizing.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for filling a container with viscous substances ofdifferent characteristics comprising a noule having a discharge orifice,said nozzle having separate and independent channels leading to saiddischarge orifice, each of said channels having an independent outlet atsaid orifice, means for independently supplying different channels withthe different substances, and valve means located at said dischargeorifice for pening or closing all of said outlets simultaneously andthereby controlling the flow from all of said channels simultaneously sothat when the outlets are opened, separate and independent streams ofthe substances pass from the respective outlets through said dischargeorifice and when closed all of said streams are stopped at said outlets.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the said channels are dividedinto sets of alternating channels, each of said sets communicating witha different supply chamber connected to a source of supply of one ofsaid substances.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which said nozzle comprises anouter vertical valve body of tubular form having a tapered nozzleportion at its lower end with the discharge outlet centrally thereof andopening downwardly, said valve means including a valve core of tubularform fitted concentrically within said body and having said channelsformed in the exterior thereof with their upper ends closed and withoutlets at their lower ends leading inwardly to said discharge orifice,separate supply chambers surrounding said valve body and provided withseparate outlets leading respectively to the different sets of saidchannels, said valve means also including a vertically reciprocablevalve member disposed in said core and adapted to be seated and unseatedrelative to said discharge outlet and to cover and uncover said outletsof said channels.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the separate supply chambersare at different levels of said valve body and communicate with theinterior thereof through said outlets in the form of vertical slotsangularly spaced but with the slots at the different levels being out ofvertical alignment, said slots of different sets being so disposedangularly that they align with different sets, respectively, of saidchannels.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in which said valve means alsoincludes a piston mounted for vertical reciprocation in said core tocover and uncover the channel outlets at the lower edge thereof whichare in the form of notches extending vertically from said edge, saidpiston having a frustoconical lower end valve portion adapted to seat insaid nozzle discharge orifice at the same time the valve covers saidnotches.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 including a fluid-actuated unit forvertically reciprocating said valve member in said core.

7. The method of filling a container with viscous substances ofdifferent characteristics which comprises forming and feeding separateindependent streams of the substances toward a point of discharge intothe container and keeping the streams the container so that the streamsentering into the container will produce a visible pattern of separatewedge-shaped columns of the substances.

9. The method of claim 8 in which relative rotation of the container andthe streams entering thereinto is produced to cause said columns to betwisted into a helical arrangement in the container.

1. Apparatus for filling a container with viscous substances ofdifferent characteristics comprising a nozzle having a dischargeorifice, said nozzle having separate and independent channels leading tosaid discharge orifice, each of said channels having an independentoutlet at said orifice, means for independently supplying differentchannels with the different substances, and valve means located at saiddischarge orifice for opening or closing all of said outletssimultaneously and thereby controlling the flow from all of saidchannels simultaneously so that when the outlets are opened, separateand independent streams of the substances pass from the respectiveoutlets through said discharge orifice and when closed all of saidstreams are stopped at said outlets.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1in which the said channels are divided into sets of alternatingchannels, each of said sets communicating with a different supplychamber connected to a source of supply of one of said substances. 3.Apparatus according to claim 2 in which said nozzle comprises an outervertical valve body of tubular form having a tapered nozzle portion atits lower end with the discharge outlet centrally thereof and openingdownwardly, said valve means including a valve core of tubular formfitted concentrically within said body and having said channels formedin the exterior thereof with their upper ends closed and with outlets attheir lower ends leading inwardly to said discharge orifice, separatesupply chambers surrounding said valve body and provided with separateoutlets leading respectively to the different sets of said channels,said valve means also including a vertically reciprocable valve memberdisposed in said core and adapted to be seated and unseated relative tosaid discharge outlet and to cover and uncover said outlets of saidchannels.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the separate supplychambers are at different levels of said valve body and communicate withthe interior thereof through said outlets in the form of vertical slotsangularly spaced but with the slots at the different levels being out ofvertical alignment, said slots of different sets being so disposedangularly that they align with different sets, respectively, of saidchannels.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in which said valve meansalso includes a piston mounted for vertical reciprocation in said coreto cover and uncover the channel outlets at the lower edge thereof whichare in the form of notches extending vertically from said edge, saidpiston having a frustoconical lower end valve portion adapted to seat insaid nozzle discharge orifice at the same time the valve covers saidnotches.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 5 including a fluid-actuatedunit for vertically reciprocating said valve member in said core.
 7. Themethod of filling a container with viscous substances of differentcharacteristics which comprises forming and feeding separate independentstreams of the substances toward a point of discharge into the containerand keeping the streams completely separate and independent until theyreach a common point of discharge, in their advance toward thecontainer, and controlling the flow of said separate streams into thecontainer by stopping or starting the flow of all of said streamssimultaneously at the said common discharge point.
 8. The method ofclaim 7 in which the container filled is an upwardly opening containerof annular cross section and is of transparent material and the separatestreams are formed as separate wedge-shaped streams and supplieddownwardly into the container so that the streams entering into thecontainer will produce a visible pattern of separate wedge-shapedcolumns of the substances.
 9. The method of claim 8 in which relativerotation of the container and the streams entering thereinto is producedto cause said columns to be twisted into a helical arrangement in thecontainer.